TOPIC: Damage

Our akita is 7 months old and extremely destructive. She shreds tea towels, cloths, plastic bottles, and is slowly eating the fitted kitchen. She is walked half an hour a day (don't want to damage her joints by going for longer) and is not often left on her own. She is otherwise we'll behaved and has been fairly easy to train to walk to heel, sit and stay etc. what am I doing wrong, or will she just grow out of it?

From my small experience, that kind of behaviour is often due to simple boredom !
When we foster young dogs at the appartement, it happens very often. They're full of energy, but as you said : long walks are not the answer. So destruction happens, and it's a pain

Personnally I have invested in some amazing occupationnal toys, and I make some as well.
With my last young resident, who seem to love shreding stuff I simply left a garbage can with wrapped ball of papers, cardboard, etc.
I also make toy out of plastic bottles, I put a colourful piece of fabric in the bottle, with a piece of it coming out, of I put a few bits of dog food inside.
I also rely a LOT on my faithful KONG toy, which works with all the dogs I fostered (and Kam also loves it). AndI have a lot of fun coming up with loads of light recipees to fill it with.

It's common for yougsters to be distructive but as Zoe says there are some great distracting toys for them, the kong filled with favorite treats is great, I also found a food ball kept my first akita very busy, it didn't work for my Asia, she just picked it up... took it on her bed and chewd the "undestructable" ball up! I'd got too small a bal, so make sure you ge the large one

You can get sprays that you spray onto the things she likes to chew, but I found rubbing galic onto table legs and cupboard doors worked, my Benny didn't like garlic at all but the best thing is simply be cautious and makesure all t-towels ect. are out of the way, perhaps keep them in a draw just be a bit more cautious than usual and she'll soon get out of the habbit

Hi my Ben is 22months old on Monday and he is still at it! if you don't hide your slippers they are gone later to be found somewhere in the garden,if you cant get to the letterbox before him its chase me round the garden time,yesterday he pinched the instructions for the new tv but we caught him just in time and as for digging holes in the garden well the lawn is well and truly done for I am pretty sure he does this out of mischief well I hope so anyway! Bill& Ben.

Your Ben sounds very like my old Benny, the "naugthyness" never really stops, you just have to control it without them knowing my old Benny had a "naughty" rutine every morning that he'd set up, he would have to steal something from the bathroom waste basket, he'd then stare at one of us to encourge us to chase him, then he'd take off around the house with his "steal" dangling from his mouth I had to shout out to him "What's Benny got!" he'd look very sad if I didn't say it If there was nothing in the waste bin for him to steal we had to secretly place a rag or a box in it for him to steal it was very funny and he did right up to his last day, a lot slower but he still did it

So maybe one thing to try and control the damage is to set something up that's okay to chew up, but let her think she is choosing to do the damge, maybe get something from the charity shop, something she isn't chewing up from your house, so don't get kitchen towels ect. cos that might just encourage her to keep going for your own t-towels, but try something like perhaps a cushion cover, or a pillow case and hide something inside it that she could chew on, tie the pillow case with string to keep the bottle from falling out, a plastic bottle should keep her attenion for a while. Leave a few of these homemade toys laying around but make sure you keep all your t-towels, and other favorites of hers, well out of sight, what you're trying to do is break her destructive habit by you having control of the things she can tear up My Asia still likes to have a tear up with some of her teddies and she's 10 year old! but she knows she can tear them, to a degree but she never touches anything she shouldn't

I found also that doing exercices with different objects works very well.
So when we play, I have different toys and also stuff like slippers or towels : and I say "get the toy"
And I give a treat on pet the dog when he gets it right.

I always try to re enforce good behaviour in a positive way, and ignore bad behaviour

Rubbing garlic or vinigar can work really well, but I would still work on behaviour at the same time !

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Dogs In Need

Nikko is a friendly dog who is looking for a new home where he can have lots of long walks to tire him out. Ideally he would be homed with his companion Keira.

Due to his excitability its best he is homed with children aged 10 years and over as he will knock small children over like skittles!

He may be able to live with a friendly female dog after a successful introduction if he is not homed with Keira.

Code Ref:

180028

Name:

Misty

Age

5 Year Old

Sex:

Female

Neutered:

No

Area:

East Yorkshire

Notes:

Misty is a 5 year old female who is looking for her forever home.

Misty is a very friendly and gentle dog who loves the attention. Misty loves been bathed and brushed.

Misty is friendly and accepting, she could live with a neutered male depending on introductions.

Misty is also looking for a family home with experience. Misty can live with children over the age of 5yrs old.

Code Ref:

Name:

Elise

Age

3 years

Sex:

Female

Neutered:

No

Area:

Staffordshire

Notes:

Elise is a sweet girl and really enjoys human companionship. She knows a few tricks and will give paws and kisses for treats. She is very treat motivated so teaching her new things shouldnt be too hard.

She can live with older children.

Elise does not like other dogs and would need to be the only dog in the home. She can be reactive to dogs when out so her new family will need to be confident with dealing with this.

Code Ref:

170004

Name:

Koda

Age

3 Year Old

Sex:

Male

Neutered:

No

Area:

Dunfermline

Notes:

Koda is looking for a new home due to owner’s ill health.

Koda is a 3yr old male, looking for his forever home. He is a loving dog, bouncing about and loves a treat. Koda can be a bit strong on the lead so he wears a head collar which helps.

Koda may be able to live with a spayed female after a few successful introductions, he can live with a dog.

Savvy children over the age of 8 years old.

Koda is a lovely big bear and would make someone a wonderful pet.

Code Ref:

14199

Name:

Shadow

Age:

2 years

Sex:

Male

Neutered:

No

Area:

Hull

Notes:

Shadow is in need of a new home as his owner is suffering from poor health and cannot care foe Shadow as he would like. He is a friendly well behaved boy. He is a little bouncy and excitable, regular walks will help to use some of that excess energy he has.

Due to his bounciness it is best that he lives with children aged 13 and over.

He could live with a spayed female after introductions. He cannot live with cats.

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